


The Most Powerful Piece on the Board

by Squirrel_Stone



Series: Clockwork Phantom [1]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Chess Metaphors, Episode: s02e16 Masters of All Time, Gen, Post-Episode s02e16 Masters of All Time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-11-20
Packaged: 2018-08-24 11:03:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,461
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8369803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squirrel_Stone/pseuds/Squirrel_Stone
Summary: Jazz would do anything to protect her brother. Anything.





	1. Promotion

“Are you alright?” Jazz asked, sitting next to her brother on the steps leading up to Fenton Works. “Seeing Sam and Tucker like that… it must have been hard. I know how much you care about them.”

Danny looked at Jazz out of the corner of his eye and sighed, as though that was answer enough.

Jazz nodded in understanding and wrapped her arm around Danny. “How’d you figure out it was the soda?”

“Uh…” Danny let out a breath of a laugh, shaking his head. “I don’t think you’d believe me if I told you.” He leaned into his sister’s embrace, letting her tighten her arm around him.

With her free hand, Jazz pet Danny’s hair. “My brother is half ghost; try me,” she challenged.

Danny snorted and rolled his eyes. “Fair enough,” he gave in. “During the thing with… the other me, I was contacted by a ghost named Clockwork. He’s the master of time, and I figured I could ask him for help. He wouldn’t let me change the past, but he let me see it. Dad accidentally poured diet soda into the proto-portal’s filtration system.”

Jazz furrowed her eyebrows together, looking into the distance instead of at Danny. “I can tell you’re keeping something from me, but I won’t make you tell me,” she replied, voice firm and soothing. “If you have more nightmares, you’re welcome to sleep in my bed.”

At first, Danny didn’t respond. Just as Jazz was about to get up, he leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, burying his face in her shoulder. Jazz heard a soft sniff, but she didn’t say anything about it. Instead, she tightened her grip and kissed the top of Danny’s head.

* * *

 

Sure enough, Danny wound up in Jazz’s bedroom that night, just like he had 60% of the nights since the incident with Dark Dan. If the whimpers and shouts she heard from Danny’s room when she went to check on him the nights he didn’t wind up with her by two a.m. were any indication, the incident was affecting him more than he let on. She’s talked to Sam and Tucker, and they filled her in as much as they could, but even they were missing a lot of information that Danny refused to tell them.

Let it be known that Jazz loved her brother. She would do anything to protect him- _anything_. She’d already been running interference with her parents and the faculty of Casper High in order to keep Danny’s secret, and just a few weeks ago, she’d gone to Vlad’s to collect information on him (the flash drive with a video of his transformation and records of his unscrupulous business practices on it was taped to the underside of her desk waiting for her to decide what to do with it). Without mincing words, Jazz had no hesitations about doing anything dangerous or illegal in order to protect her brother.

That’s why at seven in the morning with Danny tucked into her bed and hugging Bearbert, Jazz went downstairs, left a note for her parents saying she’d be at a friend’s house, started up the Specter Speeder, and headed into the Ghost Zone.

Once inside, Jazz pulled up Tucker’s map that he’d installed into the Speeder and opened the book Sam had left tucked in the glove compartment, containing an older, though more comprehensive, map of the Zone. Clockwork’s lair wasn’t listed anywhere by name, but with Jazz’s brain and determination, it wasn’t too hard to find. She parked the Speeder and headed inside, weapon in hand.

She took a quick glance around, refusing to let herself be caught up in the majesty of the Clock Tower in favor of finding its owner. A ghost in a purple cloak floated in front of some sort of round video screen in the middle of the main room- too easy.

“I knew it wouldn’t be too long before you tracked me down,” the ghost said. He didn’t bother turning around, even when Jazz got five feet behind him, the whining of the gun charging up audible in the nearly-silent lair. “You won’t be needing that; we have similar goals.”

Jazz didn’t lower her weapon. “I want answers,” she said coldly. “I need to know what happened so I can protect him.”

Clockwork scoffed and turned to face Jazz, waving his hand and causing the ecto-pistol to vanish in a puff of light blue smoke. “Never been a fan of guns,” Clockwork declared simply. He floated past Jazz to a coffee table and a couple of chairs in the room that hadn’t been there before. Another wave of his hand and a tea set appeared. “You like feverfew and peppermint, right? For your stress headaches?”

“How did you-”

“I’m the master of time, Jasmine; I know everything,” Clockwork explained. “Well… except if you’d like a cup or not.”

Jazz took a few wary steps forward. “Sure…” she replied slowly, sitting down in one of the chairs. It was a slightly-oversized armchair, much like one she’d expect to see at her grandmother’s house, complete with a floral print on a yellow background.

After taking a moment to assess Clockwork, she spoke again. “What did you do to my brother?” she asked. “He said you contacted him, but it’s rare for ghosts to contact him with anything but malevolent intentions. Usually if he’s making friends or allies, he has to initiate it.”

“Smart girl,” Clockwork mused. “Smarter than Daniel gives you credit for.”

“So you did attack him.”

“Not directly.”

Clockwork handed Jazz a cup of tea and took one for himself. He sat down in the other chair, a perfect match to the first, and gave Jazz a once-over. Deeming her worthy of information, he continued. “I sent the child of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady after him first, then a hybrid made of Skulker and Technus.”

Jazz lifted her head, lips pursed. “Those are four of the weakest ghosts Danny’s fought,” she declared. “No accident, I’m assuming.” She took a sip of her tea as she waited for Clockwork’s response.

“I had to explain to him why I was intervening, make him see what could happen, or he wouldn’t have learned,” Clockwork explained. He paused, looking Jazz over with a critical eye again. “I once knew a man who thought life was a giant chessboard. He saw himself as a king, and you would have been a pawn in his eyes. But a pawn can become a queen by making it all the way across the board.”

There was a blip of silence before Jazz leaned forward and put her cup down on the coffee table. “I notice you haven’t specified who the black pieces and who the white pieces are,” she stated.

Clockwork grinned. “Funny you should say that instead of light and dark,” he replied. “I imagine you already know how the board is set up in your life. Vladimir and Daniel are opposing kings, even if neither recognize Daniel’s true position, Samantha and Tucker are Daniel’s knights, your parents are bishops, and so on and so forth.”

“And I’m a spare knight, I know,” Jazz added in. “Their movements engage both the head and the heart, making leaps of intuition and faith, protecting their king.” She placed her elbows on her knees and interlaced her fingers. “Protecting my brother, that’s all I want to do.”

A sigh escaped the ghost of time, only for it to fall into a chuckle. “You think the game started when you found out about Daniel’s powers, and if you don’t correct that line of thought, you’ll be removed from the game.”

Jazz narrowed her eyes at Clockwork. “Danny had his powers for three months before I found out, and we first met Vlad a month before I found out,” she claimed. “That’s not a lot of time for a board to change in the grand scheme of things.”

Clockwork just smirked. He waved his hand, and a chess board appeared out of thin air, floating above the table. “The board was set when Daniel and Vladimir first crossed paths; you were a pawn that weekend. You didn’t move at all that first month, but you compensated for it after you found out your brother was Phantom. You took that two-square advance and managed to dodge every opponent on your way across the board.” As he spoke, the pieces began to play themselves out, one pawn in particular glowing as it worked its way to the other side. Finally, it reached the end.

“So going after Vlad turned me into a queen?”

“I wouldn’t say that.”

_“Uh… whoops!”_

Jazz’s head jerked to one of the screens in the room and watched her past self as she dropped a book in the path of her parents, causing them both to trip and fall into a closet which she promptly closed while Danny ran away to transform.

Slowly, Jazz turned back to Clockwork, sitting back in her seat. “I’m playing a different board,” she whispered.

Clockwork smiled at Jazz. “I knew you’d figure it out,” he applauded. “Daniel and Vladimir’s board can be taken at face value- white and black, good and evil… but I think yours requires a bit more consideration. Ordinarily, the lighter pieces are on the side of intellect while the darker pieces are on the side of devotion and the heart.” He waved his hand, and a red queen piece appeared in his hand. “Your opponents may be black pieces or white ones. Choose carefully.” He held out the piece, and Jazz took it.

She admired the queen for a moment before looking back up at Clockwork. “I think I’d like to see what happened involving Dan now.”


	2. Tea and Chess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a while, Jazz realizes something about her new companion.

Tea and chess. It had become somewhat of a ritual between Jazz and Clockwork over the past few months, every Tuesday afternoon. She’d been feeling the nanobots Vlad injected into her bloodstream for six weeks now, pulsing, waiting for the command to strike.

“Remember that you aren’t your first choice,” Clockwork declared. “The queen only moves to capture or in a gambit; try to move other pieces first.” He moved a white pawn forward one space.

Jazz stared at the board, trying to figure out what to do with her cherry red pieces. “And what about with this girl?” she asked. “I can’t just let her live on the streets, and I can’t bring her in without Danny knowing something’s up. He hasn’t told me about Danielle yet.” She moved a rook across the board to capture the pawn Clockwork had moved earlier, her hand returning to her side to rub at a rapidly forming bruise- another side effect of the bots.

Clockwork chuckled. “Weren’t you listening?” he asked. “You aren’t your first choice. Find out what you can do to get others to help her.” He moved a knight to take Jazz’s rook. “Check.”

In response, Jazz’s eyes went wide, realizing her mistake. After a moment of stillness, she moved her king away one piece. “I need more people on Danny’s side,” she declared. “I only have me, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and I guess Danielle now… and maybe you?”

“I’m not playing; I’m teaching. It wouldn’t be a fair game if I was a piece.” One pawn forward.

Jazz rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Don’t you want it to not be a fair game?” she asked, moving her bishop. “You’re supposed to be Danny’s guardian; you should want the game to be rigged.”

Clockwork moved his knight again. “Checkmate. Nice try, Jasmine.” He waved his hand, and the board reset before Jazz could blink. “My primary concern is keeping the time stream as it is supposed to be. Ensuring Daniel _does not become evil_ is secondary. Nothing says I have to keep him alive.”

“You… but… you can’t just…” In a fit of frustration, Jazz grabbed the edge of the board and flipped it over towards Clockwork, getting to her feet as she did. “Fuck you.” Uncharacteristic bursts of anger. Bots or stress?

“I’d rather not.” Clockwork got up, the table, chairs, and chess board vanishing into thin air. “In regards to your clone problem, remember that you shouldn’t be your first option, or even your second. Perhaps plan C.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever, I’m-”

Jazz’s voice caught in her throat, eyes going wide for a fraction of a second before they narrowed again. “I’m going home,” she declared. “I don’t have to listen to this.” She turned to leave, stumbling as she walked out but catching herself before she fell.

* * *

Later that night, Jazz played the words over and over in her head.

 _You always were smarter than I gave you credit for.  
_ _Smart girl- smarter than Daniel gives you credit for._

 _Is it C-You?  
_ _Perhaps plan C._

 _Nice try, Jazz.  
_ _Nice try, Jasmine._

She could barely breathe. One hand palm-up on her desk, the other on a paring knife. According to her calculations, all twelve nanobots should be in her forearm thanks to a bracelet she was wearing with a magnet attached. She tightened her grip on the knife, swallowed her fears, and quickly ran the knife up her forearm, along the radial artery.

Jazz hissed in pain, and she dropped the knife, grabbing the pipette and putting it in her arm. She released the pressure on the pipette, watching as her blood, and surely a number of nanobots, went inside. When the first pipette was filled, she removed it and replaced it with another, repeating the process.

Before she knew what was happening, her breathing began to slow, and her eyes fell shut.

* * *

 

She woke up in the clock tower, a stony-faced Clockwork turning to look at her. “I must say, this is the first time I’ve been surprised to see anyone,” he confessed, floating towards her.

“Good,” Jazz replied. “That means I’m gonna survive this.” She didn’t breathe- she didn’t need to at the moment. She _couldn’t_ at the moment. “After all, if I really was gonna stay dead, my ghost probably would’ve come to you before now in your personal timeline… right, Danny?”

Clockwork turned his head, refusing to meet Jazz’s eyes, and he floated back a few feet.

Jazz let out a dark laugh. “Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she sneered. “You sound just like him. Like that bastard who tied me to a fucking bomb. How did I miss it before? Sam, Tucker, and I wouldn’t have been at the Nasty Burger for the explosion if you hadn’t interfered. You don’t even care about when you die!”

When Clockwork looked back, Jazz saw that he was crying, and come to think of it, her cheeks were wet with tears, too. “You’re going to be in a coma for a _week_ , Jazz,” Clockwork declared. “Those were the seven most terrifying days of my life.” He laughed dryly. “I guess I finally know what you were doing that week.”

Suddenly, Jazz cried out in pain, falling to her knees. She looked up at Clockwork. “Wha-what was that?”

“The defibrillator. You cut your arm open at 3 o’clock, yes?”

Jazz nodded.

“It’s about 3:15 now,” Clockwork explained. “I found you, you know. You fell out of your desk chair, and the sound got my attention. I applied pressure, wrapped it up, all that stuff you’re supposed to do. We’re in the ambulance now, and you’re in hypovolemic shock, which has resulted in a heart attack. Would you care to watch?”

Jazz swallowed hard, squeezing her eyes shut as another scream escaped her throat.

For a moment, Clockwork just stared at Jazz. Gradually, his gaze softened, and he picked her up, letting her sob into the crook of his neck as he carried her to the bed he’d made appear in the room.

“It hurts,” Jazz whimpered. “Danny, it hurts so much.”

“I know,” Clockwork whispered, petting her hair and holding her close. “We could have found another way to get the bots out, Jazz. You didn’t have to hurt yourself.”

Jazz just shook her head. “Yeah, I did,” she insisted. “You had too much to worry about to deal with the nanobots. You needed sleep and to have enough time to eat. I-I couldn’t add something to everything else you were dealing with.”

Suddenly, Jazz cried out in pain again, curling in on herself.

“Try to sleep, Jazz,” Clockwork urged. “That should be the last one.”

* * *

 

When Jazz woke again, she wasn’t in the main room of the clock tower, instead high up in another room. For a brief moment, she thought she was in her room at home- after all, she did hear Danny’s voice from downstairs.

Wait. Danny’s voice.

Jazz shot up like a rocket and ran over to the stairs, peering down at Danny and Clockwork as they argued.

“You have to help her!” Danny yelled. “My sister is dying; help her!”

Clockwork straightened his back and held his head up. “You know I can’t do that, Daniel,” he replied. “Time will occur as it will; even I don’t get to decide who lives and who dies.”

“Bullshit!” Danny snapped. “You’ve saved her once; you can do it again!”

“Her survival was crucial to the time stream in that instance,” Clockwork explained. “It isn’t this time.”

Danny let out a scream and shot at Clockwork, but he just put up a shield without any fuss. “Then I will make it crucial!” he yelled. “I will destroy everything in my path! I will kill anyone in my way! I will lay waste to the world if that’s what it takes to get her back!”

“No you won’t.”

Danny hesitated for a moment before he fired off another energy blast and fell to his knees screaming, uncaring of any damage he caused. “Please!” he shouted. “Please, I can’t lose her! She doesn’t deserve this! She deserves to live and become a psychologist and do what she’s always wanted!” A sob escaped Danny, and he let his head fall to hit his knees. “She’s given up so much for me; she can’t give up her life, too. It’s my fault she’s depressed; I’ve been relying on her too much and I hurt her.”

Jazz bit her lip to keep herself from telling Danny he was wrong. That she would be okay and do anything and everything to protect him.

“She isn’t and wasn’t depressed, Daniel,” Clockwork replied. “She cut her arm open to remove the nanobots Vlad placed there. As it is, she managed to get eight of the twelve out of her system when she cut her arm.”

Danny took in a shaky breath, digesting the information. “Vlad’s gonna use this, isn’t he?” he asked. “He’s gonna threaten to finish the job because he knows she got rid of some of the bots.”

Clockwork pursed his lips, glancing at the ground. “It’s a possibility,” he confirmed. “One of many timelines this may lead to. Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do but wait.”

Jazz went back to her room- or, rather, the room she’d woken up in- and sat down on the bed, blocking out Danny and Clockwork’s voices. Slowly, she looked up to the sky and whispered, “I don’t know if there’s a higher being or whatever out there, but if there is, I want to make a deal. I need to protect my brother. I’ll give anything for it.”

“You really should be careful of making deals without knowing the terms.”

Jazz whipped around at the sound of the voice and was met with a more-alive-looking version of Clockwork. “How…”

“This is just a form to make you feel more comfortable,” not-Clockwork explained. “Your brother, shortly before his death, seemed to be the best option.”

“You’re young.”

Not-Clockwork laughed. “You noticed that, hm?” he asked. “I understand your concern, but he does have to die eventually. This is as late as I can possibly put it off, and even then, there’s learning to adapt to the Ghost Zone and the Observants trying to control him and-”

“What do you want?” Jazz demanded. “Whatever it is, I’ll give it.”

The response was a grin from not-Clockwork before he said, “I can go to so many people in a day. I need an assistant.”

“Deal.” Jazz stuck her hand out without a second thought. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’d do anything to protect Danny, even if it means being the Grim Reaper.”

“Oh darling, you’ll wish that’s all you’re doing,” not-Clockwork replied, taking Jazz’s hand in his own.

Jazz furrowed her eyebrows together, not quite understanding what the ghost meant. “What’s your name?” she asked, realizing belatedly that she probably should have found that out sooner.

Not-Clockwork smiled. “You can call me Seph.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please review! I want to know what you all like so I can write more of it!


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